458 
PLANTING AND TRANSPLANTING. 
(unless it bo very light) should be well broken 
up to a moderate degree of fineness; not, 
indeed, so as to render it excessively fine, or, 
except in certain cases, to remove stones of 
moderate size from among the earth, but so 
that there may be no large compact lumps of 
soil left in an undisturbed and unbroken state. 
The principal reason for this being done, is, 
that the whole body may be pervious to the 
air ; and there is also another reason, namely, 
that the earth may be evenly and regularly 
placed over and among the roots, — that, in 
fact, the roots may be perfectly imbedded in 
the soil, which is not always the case when 
coarse, rough lumps are placed in contact 
with them. The pulverising of the soil, more- 
over, assists to hold the plants more firmly 
than would be the case under opposite cir- 
cumstances. It should be made a rule, to 
cover immediately over and about the roots 
of a plant with a portion of the finest and 
best soil which is available; when this is 
done, the roots are just placed in the condi- 
tions most favourable to the production of 
new spongioles or feeding-mouths, upon which 
the success, or otherwise, of the plant almost 
entirely depends. 
In connexion with the mechanical condition 
and preparation of the soil, it may be proper 
to observe, that in many cases it is practicable, 
and where practicable proper, to adapt the 
plants to the general character of the soil ; 
thus, on barren sandy land, many of the coni- 
ferous plants would be found to thrive, while 
perhaps little else would grow. This prin- 
ciple is extensively applicable in the case of 
shrubberies and plantations. In gardens, 
however, whether for vegetable, fruit, or 
flower culture, and in the case of ornamental 
shrubberies, the principle cannot be acted on 
to any great extent ; since, under such cir- 
cumstances, certain kinds of products will be 
required, and the soil and situation must be 
made adapted to fulfil these requirements. 
To illustrate this, if a bed of American plants, 
as they are called (that is, azaleas, kalmias, 
rhododendrons, &c), is required, it will be 
proper to make the soil for them, and to pro- 
vide, in this case, that which is adapted to their 
wants. The same thing may have to be done 
with different kinds of vegetables, fruit-trees, 
or flowers, sometimes entirely changing the 
bulk of the soil, at other times merely adding 
what will correct it, and adapt it to the end 
in view. 
A word or two may be said on the pro- 
priety or non-propriety of planting — we mean 
simply the idea of removing a growing plant 
from one place to another. We are inclined 
to the opinion, that, supposing the circum- 
stances of soil and situation to be favourable, no 
plants thrive better than — we may almost ven- 
ture to say, so well as — those which are sown 
where they finally remain. Many of our annual 
cultivated plants are so difficult to transplant, 
that it is seldom or never attempted, except 
as an expedient ; and most persons can call 
to mind examples which are familiar to them, 
of extreme health and vigour in self-sown and 
undisturbed seedling plants. We should not, 
therefore, transplant from choice. But be- 
yond the case of certain culinary crops, and 
a few kinds of flower-seeds, the idea of sowing 
seeds in the places the future plants are 
designed to occupy, is impracticable. With 
all other cultivated plants it is a matter of 
convenience — a necessary evil, as we should 
say — to sow the seeds in some allotted and 
appropriate spot, and from thence remove the 
young plants to such other positions as they 
may from time to time be required to occupy. 
And it is exceedingly conducive to the com- 
fort and happiness, as well as prosperity, of 
mankind, that the nature of plants will admit 
of this artificial treatment. When plants are 
reared for the purpose of being transplanted, 
it is desirable that they should be finally 
planted out as early as possible ; and essential 
that they should not be allowed to remain 
undisturbed for too long a period previous to 
their final removal. Annuals and sufFruticose 
and herbaceous plants may be shifted once or 
twice at intervals of about a month, the former 
perhaps rather less ; and trees and shrubs, as 
long as they stand in abeyance, at intervals of 
a year in some cases, and two years in others. 
When plants are transferred from pots to 
the open ground, it is proper to loosen out 
their more or less entangled roots, and to 
spread them out in a radiating manner from 
the stem of the plant, carefully adjusting them 
in this way, and covering them with fine soil. 
This practice is very often neglected, from 
a prevalent idea that it is safer, in such cases, 
" not to disturb the roots," and that to break 
up the ball of earth in which the roots are 
imbedded would risk the life of the plants ; the 
idea is, however, a fallacy. Instances must 
be known to every experienced person, in 
which the languishing existence, or the death 
of a plant, may be clearly referred to the 
practice of this untoward custom. The proper 
way to act in cases of this sort, is to break up 
the ball of earth completely, and to unravel 
the entangled mass of roots as far as prac- 
ticable, avoiding, however, as much as it may 
be possible to do so, the breaking or bruising 
of the roots themselves. In all cases, however, 
whether it is possible or not to preserve the 
roots thus uninjured, it is more conducive to 
ultimate prosperity, to disentangle and " lay 
out" the roots in straight lines near the sur- 
face of the soil, than to suffer them to remain 
coiled up in the position they acquire from 
